Vaccines

Free vaccines are given to infants in the health centers.

BCG

BCG, or bacille Calmette-Guerin, is a vaccine for tuberculosis (TB) disease. Many foreign-born persons have been BCG-vaccinated. BCG is used in many countries with a high prevalence of TB to prevent childhood tuberculous meningitis and miliary disease. (CDC)

Hepatitis B Vaccine

It is important to vaccinate babies at birth so they will be protected as early as possible from any exposure to the hepatitis B virus. Babies and young children are not able to
fight off hepatitis B virus infection as well as older people. A baby who gets infected with the hepatitis B virus during the first five years of life has a 15% to 25% risk for premature death from liver disease, including liver failure or liver cancer. Hepatitis B vaccine is your baby’s “insurance policy” against being infected with the hepatitis B virus.

Pentavalent Vaccine

A pentavalent vaccine is a combined vaccine with five individual vaccines conjugated into one, intended to actively protect people from multiple diseases. The main example is a vaccine that protects against Haemophilus Influenza type B (a bacterium that causes meningitis, pneumonia and otitis), whooping cough, tetanus, hepatitis B and diphtheria.^[1]

 

OPV/IPV

Polio is an infectious disease caused by a virus that lives in the throat and intestinal tract. It is most often spread through person-to-person contact with the stool of an infected person and may also be spread through oral/nasal secretions. Polio used to be very common in the United States and caused severe illness in thousands of people each year before polio vaccine was introduced in 1955. Most people infected with the polio virus have no symptoms; however, for the less than 1% who develop paralysis it may result in permanent disability and even death.

There are two types of vaccine that protect against polio: inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV) and oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV). IPV is given as an injection in the leg or arm, depending on the patient’s age. Polio vaccine may be given at the same time as other vaccines. Most people should get polio vaccine when they are children. Children get 4 doses of IPV at these ages: 2 months, 4 months, 6-18 months, and a booster dose at 4-6 years. OPV has not been used in the United States since 2000 but is still used in many parts of the world.

 

Pneumococcal Vaccines

Vaccines help prevent pneumococcal disease, which is any type of infection caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae bacteria. There are two kinds of pneumococcal vaccines available in the United States:

• Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine
• Pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine

CDC recommends pneumococcal conjugate vaccine for all children younger than 2 years old, all adults 65 years or older, and people 2 through 64 years old with certain medical conditions. CDC recommends pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine for all adults 65 years or older, people 2 through 64 years old with certain medical conditions, and adults 19 through 64 years old who smoke cigarettes.

 

Measles, Mumps, and Rubella Diseases and How to Protect Against Them

The MMR vaccine is very safe, and it is effective at preventing measles, mumps, and rubella.

Measles causes fever, rash, cough, runny nose, and red, watery eyes. Complications can include ear infection, diarrhea, pneumonia, brain damage, and death.

Mumps causes fever, headache, muscle aches, tiredness, loss of appetite, and swollen salivary glands. Complications can include swelling of the testicles or ovaries, deafness, inflammation of the brain and/or tissue covering the brain and spinal cord (encephalitis/meningitis) and, rarely, death.

Rubella, causes fever, sore throat, rash, headache, and red, itchy eyes. If a woman gets rubella while she is pregnant, she could have a miscarriage or her baby could be born with serious birth defects. (CDC)

Measles Vaccine

Measles vaccine is a vaccine that prevents measles.^[1] After one dose 85% of children nine months of age and 95% over twelve months of age are immune.^[2] Nearly all of those who do not develop immunity after a single dose develop it after a second dose.^[1]When rates of vaccination within a population are greater than ~92% outbreaks of measles typically no longer occur; however, they may occur again if rates of vaccination decrease.^[1] The vaccine’s effectiveness lasts many years.^[1] It is unclear if it becomes less effective over time.^[1] The vaccine may also protect against measles if given within a couple of days of exposure to measles.^[1]

 

Rotavirus Vaccine

Rotavirus is a virus that causes diarrhea, mostly in babies and young children. The diarrhea can be severe, and lead to dehydration. Vomiting and fever are also common in babies with rotavirus.

Before rotavirus vaccine, rotavirus disease was a common and serious health problem for children in the United States. Almost all children in the United States had at least one rotavirus infection before their 5th birthday.

 

 

 

 

Disclaimer: Pictures may vary from actual vaccines.